WILMINGTON, Del. - Du Pont shareholders and environmentalists traveled
to Delaware from Georgia and Utah to attend the chemical giant's annual meeting and
protest plans to mine for titanium and drill for oil on or near federally protected lands.

Judy Jennings, a Georgia Sierra Club member, said as many as 40 people
marched outside the company's annual meeting yesterday while shareholders inside aired
their concerns about plans to mine near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in
Southeast Georgia and drill for oil in the newly created Grand Staircase Escalante
National Monument in Utah. Other estimates said half that many protesters participated.

Jennings said a Sierra Club member was allowed to speak before Du Pont's
board of directors briefly, but there was no response from the corporation's members after
the presentation.

''I wish I could take you there for just a minute to experience it,''
Elizabeth Hagan, 18, a Du Pont shareholder and high school student from Atlanta, said of
the Okefenokee. ''What it's like to be sitting in absolute silence by dark coffee waters
and towering cypress trees.

''It's irreplaceable, it's absolutely irreplaceable. If Du Pont does
mine, there will be irrevocable changes.''

Hagan was also allowed to present to the board of directors a petition
signed by more than 200 people opposing the mine.

The Okefenokee covers 438,000 acres in Southeast Georgia and Northern
Florida. Du Pont has bought or leased a 38,000-acre tract of piney woods next to the
refuge.

But John A. Krol, Du Pont's president and chief executive officer, told
shareholders that the company will not mine for titanium unless it is certain the mining
won't hurt the environment.

''Once again, let me assure you we will not proceed at Okefenokee unless
we are completely satisfied we will not harm the environment,'' Krol said.

Titanium, a lightweight metal used in golf clubs, jet engines and bone
replacements, is primarily used in titanium dioxide, a widely used white pigment found in
paints, plastics, paper and other items. The global market for titanium dioxide is
estimated at $7 billion a year worldwide, of which Du Pont controls about a quarter, or
$1.75 billion, the company said.

Du Pont maintains it can mine for titanium on the refuge's edge without
environmental damage, but has temporarily halted the project because of criticism and said
it would hire an independent mediator to hold talks between the company and its critics.

Last month, environmentalists also criticized Du Pont and its Conoco oil
division after Utah allowed the company to drill an exploratory oil well in the Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Tom Price of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said Du Pont should
look elsewhere for oil.

''We want Du Pont to just leave it alone. This is like stripping the
gold out of the Sistine Chapel,'' Price said.

Krol said the company was negotiating with concerned parties.

''We are, in both cases, collaborating not only with government
officials but also with environmental groups to come up with a solution that is not only
good for the environment but good for business,'' Krol said.

Du Pont has said its mining will not affect the refuge, citing its
experience mining in Northern Florida over the past 40 years.

But Sam Collier, a Sierra Club staff member from Atlanta who protested
outside the meeting, was unmoved. ''There is no scientific evidence they can provide that
mining won't hurt the swamp,'' he said.

Critics say they are concerned that the proposed 24-hour-a-day mining
operation in Georgia will harm the Okefenokee's water quality and destroy wildlife
habitats. Critics have also complained that dredging machinery and floodlights will ruin
the peace and quiet visitors enjoy at the park.

Sam Booher, a Du Pont shareholder from Augusta, Ga., and a retired Army
lieutenant colonel said he drove to Wilmington with his wife to deliver in person what he
has been trying to tell the company by mail.

''We all need assurances that this mining will not turn into another
Exxon Valdez oil spill, public relations nightmare,'' Booher said.

''We drove here to ask you in person for your assurance that our
investment in this company will not suffer as you eventually move ahead and set up mining
operations alongside the main tourist entrance to one of the most visited public sites and
one of the most ecologically sensitive areas in the South.''

Jennings of the Georgia Sierra Club said she was pleased with the
protest.

''The board of directors didn't respond in any way that I know of,''
Jennings said, ''but they had to be concerned.''